Does This Sparrow Deserve to be Saved?
Jillian's Opinion
One would think that the great and compassionate human beings we claim to be, would care about the animals who have become endangered due to our own selfish, and greedy needs. These helpless and voiceless birds, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrows, are disappearing off the face of the Earth towards extinction. Most people are not even aware that this precious bird exists, since they're only found in one part of the world, Kissimmee Florida, but there is no doubt these birds deserve to be saved. Not only should we save the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, but all endangered species. It is not right to save only the cute and cuddly polar bears, but every insect, invertebrate, reptile, and amphibian on planet Earth that has become endangered due to human activity deserves to be saved.
Florida Grasshoppers are small, and blend well into their environment, making it very difficult to locate and determine the number of sparrows left in the species. One might think, why save a species that you cannot see or keep track of, and why save this sparrow when there are a thousand other bird species throughout the United States. This is analogous to the 1% of America not caring remotely about the 99%. Simply because something, or someone, is not important or seemingly relevant to a particular group of people, does not mean they do not matter. In this case it is the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow.
All helpless species deserve an equal opportunity to restore their own kind. It is very sad to see an image of a lone polar bear sitting on top of a melting ice cap, but just because it’s an adorable animal doesn’t mean it deserves exponentially more attention than any other endangered species. The United States has already spent 1.7 billion dollars on protecting endangered species, and a small portion of that money allocated towards the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow would not be a financial drain to the U.S. federal government. This sparrow needs advocates to give it a voice and create awareness of this species, and protect their habitat, the prairie land of south and central Florida, from being pasteurized and used for agriculture.
The fact is that all species deserve to be saved, that is an absolute truth, but more specifically the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow most definitely deserves to be saved. This mere 13 centimeters tall bird is losing its habitat, family, and fellow sparrows due to businesses taking their homeland and converting it into land for pasteurizing and for agriculture. This is clearly derived from the never ending want for more money and greed. But on the contrary, not all humans possess those traits, giving hope that this beautiful bird will soon be saved and conquer this battle of extinction.
Erin's Opinion
The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, being only 13 centimeters tall, is a tiny bird. Many might even believe that it has no real use, and wouldn’t matter if it went extinct or not. However, there are several reasons as to why I believe it should be saved. First of all, it was by the fault of humans that the Sparrow first became endangered. How can we, as humans, be alright with completely erasing an animal from the world? It is not only our world, it is theirs as well. Humans are obliterating the poor bird’s home, the dry prairies of central Florida, which causes them to become homeless, and slowly die off. We are then turning these prairies into grazing pastures for cows, because what would America be without its meat?
I believe that the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow should be saved by humans because it was humans who did the immense damage in the first place. Humans were the ones who destroyed the bird’s land, plants, and home. It would only be fair if it was us who repaired it as well. This may take a while, as most of their habitat is already gone, and repair takes time, but it will be worth it. The sparrow may be small, but choosing to just let an entire animal species die off without attempting to protect it is just the beginning. If we let the small, insignificant animals die, soon every ecosystem will be disturbed, mostly because of our need to not “waste” money on trivial species. It is the job of humans to fix what has been broken, before it is too late.
The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is also important to the ecosystem, meaning it helps other organisms around it. Their nests are sometimes parasitized by the brown-headed cowbird, while the sparrow itself is also parasitize by nasal mites and bird ticks. (Dewey, 2009) These living creatures are just as real as you and me, and have just as much right to live and thrive in their own ecosystems. If we destroy one part of the food chain, it will disconnect everything below it as well. If the sparrow becomes extinct, it’s like a chain missing a link. It falls apart.
The food chain that the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is a part of is important to the bird’s ecosystem. It keeps each organism in balance so no population gets too high or too low. If the sparrow suddenly went extinct, it would have a devastating impact on the other organisms around it. While such a small bird may not have any impact on a global scale, the complete annihilation of it would affect all the organisms that are part of the same food web. As the dominant organisms on this planet, we, as humans, need to band together to stop so many fellow organisms from going extinct. Right now, it's a few every year, but soon, it could be hundreds. To keep the chain from falling apart, we must make sure we have every link.
Escher's Opinion
Every species has the right to exist and we—the most powerful species on Earth—have an obligation to use our immense powers to help ensure this, doing all we can to preserve endangered species, especially those endangered by our activities. This is all well and good in the moral, theoretical, and logical realms, but unfortunately—as with many other moral dilemmas—the practical realm interjects to drive its pragmatic fist through the middle of plans based only on such ethereal considerations as moral obligation.
So, in a world of limited resources, manpower, and time, we are left with a question—quite necessary, though about as pleasant and encouraging to species conservationists as a broken leg: if we can’t save every species, which ones do we save, and which do we let die off? The Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, set to be extinct by 2050, is no exception to the scrutiny of such a choice. Should we really save the Sparrow?
Pulling from the information gathered in researching for this website, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is indeed a bird worth saving. Now, one must realize that in making this decision I am theoretically taking resources away from all the other thousands of endangered species in need of aid. So, I am essentially pitting the value of the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow against all other endangered species. There had better be some darn good reasons backing such a claim (says the polar bear)!
Well, there are three main reasons we should save the Sparrow. Firstly, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow is a very rare bird and, potentially, won’t be around for much longer. For bird watchers, this amounts to—quite literally—the opportunity of a lifetime. The resulting flood of ecotourism not only brings in revenue for the Kissimmee Prairie park (and Florida as a whole), the last main Florida Grasshopper Sparrow habitat, but also for the research and conservation programs working to save the Sparrows (“Kissimmee Prairie,” 2015). This helps cover the costs of their preservation, making the Sparrow somewhat self-sustaining, in a way.
Secondly, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, like most other species, is an integral part of its ecosystem as a prey and host species. If the Sparrow goes down, it could very well take other species with it. Various hawks as well as the loggerhead shrike hunt adult and juvenile Sparrows (Vickery, 1996). Nasal mites and bird ticks rely on the Sparrow as a host (Dewey, 2009). More than 8 species and 3 genera eat the Sparrow’s eggs and nestlings (Vickery, 1996). If our feathered friend fades, the consequences for the above species could be dire, and might even cause a catastrophic chain reaction die-off.
Thirdly, the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow also plays a role in its ecosystem simply by eating. Its diet includes grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, weevils, moths and their larvae, flies
and other bugs (“Florida Grasshopper Sparrow”). Without the Sparrow to keep them in check, any one of these species could experience a population explosion, which would prove detrimental to the dry prairie’s stability and damaging to human agriculture and settlements.
Any of these three reasons is a good reason to save the Sparrow. Combined, however, I believe they provide a strong case for why we should give our beaked brethren a second chance at life.
And let’s not forget the airy-fairy, “ethereal,” reasons I touched on in the beginning paragraph. From the Sparrow’s perspective, they’re just as important, if not more so.